Chicadee, cardinal, parrot, and a nest

No bird collection is complete without a little chickadee. This little one is from a picture my niece made at their birdfeeder. 

I gave Mrs. Cardinal her Mr. 

What could these two be talking about?

Meet Basil. Basil is my co-workers' parrot. He likes to sit on her head and pick on her until he gets a treat.

In this next one the bird flew away! I said I would do 50 birds, but I thought it would be fun to throw a nest in there too. This was actually an abandoned nest. I'm not sure who made it.

The next three

It's been a productive week. Three more finished, and two more almost finished. I will show those after I put the finishing touches on them. I can always decide better the next day if I'm happy with it.

In my picture the pelican was sitting on a fish cleaning table on the Huntington Pier in California. He is looking old and faded in the picture. I gave him a bit more color to make him young again, and perched him on a pole. 

This week I felt I had to paint a robin; one morning while taking the dogs out I heard all this bird song. I my sleepy haze it took me moments to register what I was hearing. Robins! It is always a pleasant sound to hear. It means spring is coming. Although the robins might not have expected this cold weather we are having. Hopefully it will soon get warmer and they can start nesting.

In the picture the robin is sitting next to the nest of hungry robin babies by our front door. I painted the baby robins separately weeks ago. Now one parent is here to join them. 

This hawk was one of the paintings that just flowed out of the brush. I like how he came out. The eyes are so intense! Like he is keeping an eye on you! Picture credit goes to Andre Jacobs.

A warbler, a seagull, and a rooster

This little birdy gave me plenty of trouble and I almost wiped him out and forget about him. Those markings on the back! I put it away for a few days and ended up doing several glazes. Picture credit goes to Petra Glorie.

I had fun with the seagull, giving him a nice beach to sit on. In my picture he was sitting on a pole. According to my husband the chips bag is missing in the painting. Isn't that the sad truth, the birds scavenging for people food on the beach.

The bird series is not complete without a chicken. This is Goliath, a rooster we had. He lived a happy life with his hens, and got to be about 9 years old!

Woodpecker, owl, and crow

Here is my next installment of bird pictures! 

This red bellied woodpecker was quite the challenge. Specially getting the white dots on his back. I had to wipe them off and restart several times. In the end I think he came out nice (from a picture by Petra Glorie).

My co-worker Rosie sent me a wonderful picture of a great horned owl. It had flown into her pheasant pen. After catching it she took the picture, and then set it free. She said it was big, but not even full grown yet. How those eyes look at you! I can't help to keep staring back!

I've been working on a finch that just did not want to get out of its ugly stage. In that case it is just better to let it sit for a day and come back to it. So I started a new one. This crow was like it just flowed right out of my brush and came to life! It felt good have one just flow and I'm happy with it (from a picture by Andre Jacobs).

Quick sketches

We spent last weekend in the Adirondacks. It was mostly a family visit, but one of these days I would like to go there and just paint! There is a beautiful scene around every corner. I did bring my sketchbook though. I usually don't like to show my sketches, or scribbles rather, but wanted to show that it does not have to be perfect. Just quick impressions of what you see make for a great trip souvenir, and just might help later when doing a larger painting or getting out of an artist block. I use a pen, just so the sketches can be quick without the urge to erase. These scribbles I did over a half hour (from a warm car!), and I added some splashes of watercolor later when I got home and everything was still fresh in my head.

Get out there and sketch!!

Show

The show will be up an extra week, so if you would like to see it, stop by the Trumansburg Library!

A parrot and a kingfisher

While the snow was falling steadily and everything outside turned white I felt the need for something colorful, so I painted this parrot. As I was going through my unorganized mess of digital pictures, I found one I took at the Bird Kingdom in Niagara Falls years ago. 

I had to look up this bird's name. This is a Rainbow Lorikeet, and is native to Australia. In the picture he was hanging on the cage bars, but I gave him a nicer perch.

This next bird is from a picture by Dutch photographer Andre Jacobs. It is a Common Kingfisher, who lives in Eurasia and Northern Africa. My parents sometimes would see one near their pond looking for its next meal. Always beautiful to see, and at least he could only take the small fish.